Broke bolt in cylinder head near injector ! Help !

[Gettin50MPGs]

I was screwing down the bolt that holds the 2nd injector in the cylinder heand and the bolt broke off.

I believe there's a tool that drills into the broken portion of the bolt and allows one to twist the broken portion out but I've been able to find it on the web.

Any ideas on how to get the broken portion thats still in the head out would be appriciated.

Thanx

 

[rdkern]

An "easy-out" may be what you're thinking of. However, it doesn't drill - you drill most of the bolt out, and "drill" this device into the hole in a counter-clockwise direction.

Go to Sears and get a set. And be careful - no drilling the head, only the bolt. Unfortunately, the bolt is rather hard.

If you break off the easy-out (maybe ezy-out?) it compounds the problem. The easy-out is even harder than the bolt. Tough drilling.

Is there none of it sticking out that you can grab with a pair of vice-grips?

 

[Gettin50MPGs]

Nope, all of the bolt broke off into the head.

An easy-out sounds like the way to go. Easy out, WD-40, center punch and some carbide (sp) bits might get me out of this jam.

Thanx

 

[rdkern]

Good luck!

Remember, the bigger the hole, the less likely you are to break off the east-out. After making progressively bigger holes, the "that's big enough" attitude took over my better judgement one day. I then proceeded to snap off the easy-out that fit that hole. Go until you're close to the threads - 1/32" or so perhaps. They are hard, so they need to meat to bit into. They are also somewhat brittle. At least the cheap set I bought were.

 

[MOGolf]

You might have been thinking of something that looks like this.

I'd recommend hardened, left-hand drill bits. Those are drill bits that if they bit into the broken off screw they'd be turning the proper direction as to unscrew the broken off part. A standard drill bit would be trying to drive the broken off part into the head. Perhaps this would be a better option.

 

[rdkern]

I hadn't seen those. You're right - they're the way to go. The easy-out might not even be needed especially with the wd-40 or penetrating oil.

 

[Got50MPG]

From bad to worse

Damn easy out bit broke also.

I did everything I could to keep it from breaking including drilling the whole deep, buying Black & Decker bit (thought the qaulity would count) and using penetrating oil 15mins before I tried to twise the broke bolt peice out.

Good think I bought a tap kit just in case the easy-out tool didn't work BUT now I can't drill through the easy out bit that broke off. I've bought 2 DeWalt carbide (sp) bits that are both dull now. Needless to say the bits from the tap kit are dull now also.

Don't know what to do and I'm not ready to tow it to a shop just for a hole to be drilled.

What would a shop use to drill through the easy out bit?

Need car soon.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanx

 

[turbonem]

where are you?

some experence may help.

I'v removed many broken extactors from broken bolt gone horribly wrong (mainly cat 3116 exhust manifold bolts---in an iron head).

a torch ( oxy - acetelyne )will remove the extractor and not even touch the cast threads --- but with cast aluminum --- I can't say for shure.

I would think someone here may know if it's do-able(someone who is more framilliar with cast aluminum).

rockmount a welding rod company makes a rod called "brutis rod" and it is made for removing recessed broken bolts or broken bolts with broken extractors also.

the heat helps loosen things up.will it work on cast aluminum? I don't know.

when did the bolt break? going in or out?

I feel your pain and want to heip.my tel # (719)-836-3655

GOOD LUCK matt

 

[Gettin50MPGs]

Thanx Eric,

I might give you a ring tommorrow.

Right now it I'm going to start looking for another head.

Would you happen to know how long it would take to change one of these?

Are there any special tools besides the ones needed for the timing belt?

Thanx

 

[RIP TDI]

As a very last resort, you might get a quote from a machine shop that has an EDM (Electrical Discharge Machine). This will do the job without the risk of overheating the head, but its expensive. It might be cheaper than a replacement head if that turns out to be the only option.

 

[wny_pat]

Black & Decker quality way down! Dewalt is the same. If you want something good try Snap-on or Mac tools, or S&K. Craftsman is also good and easy to return if broken.

 

[redmondjp]

Damn easy out bit broke also.

Yup--this same thing has happened to me 9 out of 10 times that I have tried to use the bolt extractors--I've pretty much given up on them. I have successfully used the left-hand drill bits--I recommend them to anybody over the "easy outs" (sorry, I realize that this doesn't help you at this point).

When I have broken off taps in a hole, I have had to use a punch and chisel and break the tap off in tiny pieces to get it out--I don't know if this would work with a bolt extractor--the metal in the extractor may not be as hard as that in a tap.

OK so here's a related question--if the head is aluminum and the bolt is steel, the aluminum will expand more as it is heated up than the steel bolt will--will this make the bolt A) easier to remove, or B) harder to remove? It seems to me that if the aluminum "grows" inward toward the center of the bolt hole as it heats up, it would make it harder to remove the bolt. Anybody else have experience in this area?

Now what about cooling the area--if one had access to solid CO2 (dry ice), or better yet, liquid nitrogen, could this make the extractor brittle enough that it could be broken out piece by piece? I know I know . . . this isn't too practical, but just throwing out ideas here--a new/rebuilt head + installation is a lot of expense so it's worth trying to figure out an alternative.

I feel your pain--I have driven previous cars around with broken-off extractors in various parts of the engine

 

[cdu]

From bad to worse

Damn easy out bit broke also.

I did everything I could to keep it from breaking including drilling the whole deep, buying Black & Decker bit (thought the qaulity would count) and using penetrating oil 15mins before I tried to twise the broke bolt peice out.

Good think I bought a tap kit just in case the easy-out tool didn't work BUT now I can't drill through the easy out bit that broke off. I've bought 2 DeWalt carbide (sp) bits that are both dull now. Needless to say the bits from the tap kit are dull now also.

Don't know what to do and I'm not ready to tow it to a shop just for a hole to be drilled.

What would a shop use to drill through the easy out bit?

Need car soon.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanx

EZ outs are poorly named. If they break, and they often do, they make the problem 1000 times worse.

Tow the car to a shop that can do welding; have them tack weld something onto the broken end of the bolt; that'll get the broken bolt out. Or heat the head up with a torch and see if a left handed drill bit will get the thing out. Better yet, tow the car to a well equiped shop and let them deal with the problem. I doubt you'll need to replace the head and the shop cost probably won't be worse than the tow cost to fix the problem.
chris

 

[mgwerks]

I'm not sure of welding skills, but a good MIG welder might be able to tack weld a bolt to what's left of the broken stud, and you could back the bolt out, thus piulling the broken stud with it. I have used this on exhaust studs before with some success.

 

[uponblocks]

I agree with those who suggest you find a welder to mig weld a nut to the end of your broken bolt. My experience is that bolts broken off from overtightening during installation have a very good prognoses. Usually you will be able to extract the bolt without too much trouble and without damaging the threads. A bolt broken during disassembly, where the bolt is corroded or fused, is another matter... Don’t give up on your head yet. You can probably find a local welder with some experience in this and also with a portable rig, so he can come to you and save you the towing expense. The heat of the welding will tend to loosen the heads grip on your broken bolt. EDM will also work but I doubt you’ll find someone to come to your home, and they may need the head to be pulled.

 

[Gettin50MPGs]

The lights about to go out on this one guys.

I finally was able to find a bit that was sharp enough to drill down into the aluminum part that didn't have the Easy Out stuck into it since the Easy Out only partially broke. Weeelllll, 2 second into happiness my bit gets wet for some reason.....yeap, drilled into the (adjective) coolant pathway

. !!!

I've spent all of my free time and some of my sleep time for this whole week to come to this!!

Oh well, It sounds like a competent machine shop should be able to weld a stud or something in place and so the injector holder can hold down the injector and be able to weld some aluminum over the small but very visable whole that I put in the cylinder heads coolant pathway.

On a PITA scale of 1-10 how hard is it to pull the head and put it back on for a Passat? I've done this with gassers when I've had to change the head gaskets and its pretty easy when you take your time and take a lot of pictures before hand. Are there any special tools need besides the ones need of the timing belt? Any tip or tricks?.

Yeap, all this to tighten a leaking injector after I swapped nozzles. Hell, I was still getting 41 MPG with TWO leaking injectors that were soaking the front of the engine after 100+ mile commute.